Who Is The Real God? – Gospel For Asia

ASSIST News Service (ANS) – Thursday, April 30, 2009       Gospel for Asia

 Bible college students learn practical ministry and spiritual disciplines.
 
SOUTH ASIA (ANS) — Paresh Segal did all the religious rituals that his parents taught him, but he was full of doubt. The Segals were quite wealthy because Paresh’s father was a building contractor, so their life was a little better than most people they knew.

Like most people in Asian culture, the family was very faithful to the gods and goddesses of their traditional religion. Every morning and evening. they performed devotions and prayers for one hour before the statue of their family goddess. No one ate any breakfast or dinner before the prayers. Paresh’s parents told their children that their goddess was the most superior in their whole religion and that their religion was better than any other.

Paresh submitted to his parents’ wishes and participated in all these poojas and religious festivals, but deep down in his heart, he questioned everything. He often asked himself this question:

“All religions believe that their god is the real god, but who is the real God?” (more…)

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Religious Leaders Unite To Fight Vilification Laws

By Andrew West

POWERFUL and morally conservative religious leaders and laymen, including Christians, Jews and Muslims, have united to form a lobby group to fight what they say is the growing threat to religious freedom in Australia.

The Ambrose Centre for Religious Liberty will be launched at NSW Parliament House tonight and formally brings together for the first time the leaders of several religious groups.

The centre’s chairman, the Sydney lawyer Rocco Mimmo, said the leaders were increasingly worried that religious vilification laws – such as the ones used in Victoria to prosecute a Pentacostal pastor for inflammatory comments about Islam – would be introduced nationally.

“All of us have concerns, for different reasons, that religious liberty is in danger,” Mr Mimmo told the Herald.

“Anti-vilification laws have a superficial appeal to people but, however inappropriate those comments made by the Victorian pastor, I doubt very much whether they actually incited people to violence.” (more…)

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Anti-Christian Britain

Chuch ColsonBy Chuck Colson

As you may know, in Islamic countries such as Afghanistan, converting from Islam to Christianity is a crime punishable by death. While they don’t go that far, certain Indian states and Nepal erect formidable hurdles for would-be converts to Christianity.
 
And then there’s the United Kingdom.

In 2007, a 16-year-old girl was placed into foster care after being assaulted by a family member. Her foster mother had taken care of 80 foster kids over 10 years. She rented a farmhouse and was, by all accounts, completely committed to the well-being of the children placed under her care.

She is also a practicing Anglican Christian. This hadn’t been a problem. No one had ever accused her of taking advantage of her relationship to the girls for proselytizing.

The same is true of the 16-year-old in question. Still, the girl became interested in Christianity on her own; said that she wanted to attend church; and expressed a desire to be baptized. For the girl, baptism was a “washing away of the horrible things she had been through and a symbol of a new start.” (more…)

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‘Hate Crimes’ Legislation Advancing Quickly

Repent America Urges Immediate Action from Christians

- PHILADELPHIA ELEVEN AFTER THEIR VINDICATION BY A PHILADELPHIA CRIMINAL COURT -PHILADELPHIA – Repent America is urging Christians nationwide to contact their congressmen and senators in effort to defeat the passage of “The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009” (H.R. 1913), which poses a serious threat to Biblical evangelism and active stances against the sin of homosexuality. After approval of the bill this past Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee, the measure is swiftly moving to a full vote in Congress, as well as consideration before the Senate this week. Unless Christians act, H.R. 1913 could be on President Obama’s desk within the next couple of weeks.

Co-written by openly homosexual congressman Barney Frank and co-sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act is faulty and untruthful from its very foundation, citing in its “findings” section that “members of such groups are forced to move across state lines to escape the incidence or risk of such violence” and that they are “prevented from purchasing goods and services, obtaining or sustaining employment or participating in other commercial activity.” (more…)

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Taliban Executes 2 Christians

Pakistani FlagBelievers were protesting demand they accept Islam
 
Taliban Islamic radicals have attacked a community of Christians, executing two of them following a rally that protested Muslim graffiti in their neighborhood that ordered them to accept Islam or die, according to an international Christian organization.

The attack in Pakistan follows only by days an expansion of the territory occupied by the Islamic Taliban members.

The report from International Christian Concern said it happened in Taseer Town in Karachi.

The organization, which reaches out to persecuted Christians around the world, said it was told by Asif Stephen, a Christian politician, that the Christians protesting the Islamic slogans say: “We were protesting peacefully and all of sudden, a few militants carrying the latest weapons rushed in. Some of the attackers entered homes and pillaged money and jewelry and abused the women and burned their properties. The elderly were injured and one child fell to the ground and died in my friend’s arms.” (more…)

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Australia To Boycott UN Anti-Racism Conference

The Australian

AUSTRALIA will not take part in a controversial United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva this week.

The Federal Government’s decision to boycott the Durban Review conference was prompted by the outcome of the original event in 2001, which was marred by claims of anti-Semitism…

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said the Geneva meeting reaffirms the 2001 outcomes, singling out Israel and the Middle East.

“Regrettably, we cannot be confident that the review conference will not again be used as a platform to air offensive views, including anti-Semitic views,”… (more…)

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Hospital Bans Bibles, Crosses From Chapel

Mosman Mayor Dominic Lopez inside the RNS chapelWORSHIPPERS at one of the state’s largest hospital chapels have been ordered to get rid of crucifixes and Bibles and pull down religious pictures and symbols for fear of offending other religions.

The decision by Royal North Shore Hospital has outraged patients and their families, many of whom have turned to the chapel for comfort in their darkest hours.

Hospital managers ordered the ban on symbols of any kind because the chapel was increasingly being used by a number of different faiths.

But Mosman Mayor Dominic Lopez said angry patients were offended that the chapel no longer represented a holy place.

Ban will incite fear, religious leaders say

“I used to sit there and pray when my wife was dying of breast cancer and look at that cross,” he said. “Now it is just a hall and the decision is bulls. . .. You either have a chapel or you don’t. It’s offensive to have a church or chapel and not have a cross in it.” (more…)

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Dr. Paul Ai Tran Is Being Held In Ho Chi Minh City For Sharing The Gospel Of Jesus — Again!

By Dan Wooding – Founder of ASSIST Ministries

Dr. Paul Ai TranHO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM (ANS) — A close friend of Dr. Paul Ai Tran, a much persecuted Vietnamese Christian leader whom the communist authorities grew so frustrated with because of his prolific church planting efforts that they deported him from Vietnam in 1999 to the United States, has told ANS that Tran is being held under “city” arrest in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.

Bruce Sonnenberg, Executive Director/Founder of He Intends Victory based in Southern California, said, “Paul is staying in a hotel under ‘city’ arrest and being watched by two police bodyguards everywhere he goes. He has the freedom to go and visit his family and friends, etc., but he has the two policemen watch his every movement for 24 hours a day. The policemen stay at the hotel in the next room to his.

“Paul is now an American citizen and has a tourist visa to go back to Vietnam. They cannot do anything to him, but they also want to make a point by making things difficult for him. What they are saying to him is ‘so you want to come back and visit Vietnam, now you can stay, but you cannot leave until we say so.’ They are just playing games with him and I believe they will release him soon as they will get bored with the situation.” (more…)

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Kenya: Church Struggling After Islamists Destroy Building

Church Still Meeting In Open AirSix months after attack, Muslim assailants still at large; weary congregation faces heat, rain.
 
GARISSA, Kenya, March 5 (Compass Direct News) – Six months after a gang of Muslim youths ruined a church building in this town in northern Kenya, Christians still worshipping in the sweltering heat of the open air say they feel disillusioned that officials have done nothing to punish the culprits or restore their structure.

On a sunny afternoon last Sept. 14, when angry Muslim youths threw more than 400 members of the Redeemed Gospel Church out of their church building, the Christians hoped they would be able to return to the ruins of their former structure. That hope is quickly giving way to anger, hopelessness and despair.

“After six months in the open, the church feels tired and cheated,” said pastor David Matolo. “We are fed up with the empty promises from the government administration.”

He said the church, which began worshipping in Garissa in early 2001 with only a dozen members, is fast shrinking. (more…)

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Geert Wilders: The World Needs An International First Amendment And A Ban On All ‘Hate Speech’ Laws

I was at this press conference this morning at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Wilders stated the case for free speech forcefully. Will post video when available.

Geert Wilders will also be speaking tonight at 6PM EST at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, at an event sponsored by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch, and Dr. Andrew Bostom.

“Geert Wilders: An International First Amendment and a ban on all ‘hate-speech’ laws; Keynotes Center-sponsored press conference,” a press release from the Center for Security Policy:

Washington, DC: Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders, founder and floor leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), and member of the Board of Advisors of the International Free Press Society (IFPS), recounted today before a packed audience in Washington’s National Press Club the recent, alarming attacks on free speech worldwide – including legal actions and death threats to which he and other political leaders and journalists have lately been exposed. (more…)

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ANTI-CONVERSION BILL Delayed In Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan FlagPastor Danny NalliahDear Family and Friends in Christ,

I wish to convey my sincere appreciation to all who prayed and acted in order to stop the above bill from getting through the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Below is a report I received a few days ago. Further, I personally spoke to several Christian leaders and others who have now advised me that the President has personally assured some of them that he will not let it pass through Parliament.

The delay tactic is because the President is planning on calling for elections this year and would dissolve Parliament before that. If this happens, all existing bills scheduled to go through Parliament will be automatically cancelled. (more…)

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Urgent Action Required: Sri Lanka Anti-Conversion Bill

Ministers on stage at the prayer rally against the Anti-Conversion BillDear Family and Friends in Christ,

We returned from Sri Lanka 2 weeks ago, as we were there for over a month.  My trip was primarily a holiday, but I had the opportunity to spend time with many church leaders from many Christian denominations.

4000+ Sri Lankan Christians protest against Anti Conversion Bill in ColomboIt was brought to my attention that the Anti-Conversion Bill was back in the Sri Lankan Parliament and if passed would cause major problems for the church and those wanting to embrace Christianity. This unjust bill raised its head under the former government, but was put off mainly because of united prayer and action initiated by many Christian organizations, ministries, churches, and believers around the world.

Many lobbied their respective Sri Lankan Embassy in the country they lived in. Also I personally spent much time in the US State Department along with my US counterparts, who work on Christian Human Rights Issues, to stop the Anti-Conversion Bill from going through. The end result was that the then president The Hon Chandrika B Kumaratunge did not let it get through Parliament. (more…)

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The Secular Humanistic, Islamic, And Interfaith Attempt To Remove Lord’s Prayer From Australian Parliament

Speaker (Harry Jenkins) wants Lords Prayer out of the houseFollowing is an article that appeared all over the Australian Media regarding the Secular Humanistic, Islamic, and Interfaith attempt to remove the daily reading of the Lord’s Prayer from the Australian Parliament.

KEVIN Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull both dismissed calls yesterday to replace the Lord’s Prayer with an acknowledgement of Australia’s traditional Aboriginal owners at the daily opening of federal parliament.

The nation’s peak Muslim group and the Greens have backed moves to change the century-old tradition so as to be more inclusive of all Australians.

House of Representatives speaker Harry Jenkins called for debate about whether the prayer should be rewritten or replaced, saying MPs and the public had raised concerns about its relevance to 21st century Australia. (more…)

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Islamic Law Has Been Officially Adopted In Britain, With Sharia Courts Given Powers To Rule On Muslim Civil Cases.

THE TIMES

The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.

Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through county courts or the country’s High Court, a part of its Supreme Court system.

Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims. (more…)

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Peace Rally For The Orissa Christians

MarchingHello Kingdom partners,

ChildrenHere are some pictures that a peace rally was conducted by our Jesus For All Generations Ministries in our Srikakulam town.  On behalf of our ministry, we invited all district christians to join in our peace rally, and by the grace of God nearly 5000 believers and many ministers joined in our rally for the peace and liberty to the Christian believers in both Orissa and Karnataka states.

(more…)

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